


It’s Possible (for a plain country pastor and a king to join in marriage)

by jasminetea



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: A Pair of Fine Eyes, Alternate Universe - Cinderella Fusion, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Background Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko - Freeform, Canon Queer Character, Canon Queer Relationship, Community: theoldguardkinkmeme, Costume Parties & Masquerades, Dick Jokes, Fairy Tale Retellings, Identity Porn, M/M, Male Cinderella, Nicky | Nicolo di Genova is not a mouse, Priest Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Prompt Fill, Royalty Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani, Yusuf's terrible pick up lines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:20:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27769672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jasminetea/pseuds/jasminetea
Summary: When Andy and Quỳnh take Nicky for a night out, he finds himself at the King’s ball, where good food, sword fights, and true love await.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 32
Kudos: 303





	It’s Possible (for a plain country pastor and a king to join in marriage)

**Author's Note:**

> For the [Cinderella prompt](https://theoldguardkinkmeme.dreamwidth.org/7005.html?thread=2538845#cmt2538845) on the kink meme. Thanks to the 18+ server ([Disaster Immortals](https://discord.gg/Be4JdbAt)) for the cheerleading and help. I also post snippets of my WIPs there too! Next fic will be the Booker/Nile alpha/beta/omega milk bar AU.
> 
> OP if you’d like this gifted to you, please let me know!

“You make a great pastor Nicky, but you’re fucking miserable.”

Leave it to Andy to just say it outright. Ever since she and Quỳnh had begun stopping by a few years ago, they had become his only friends in this town. They like to rest and chat with him before going to the castle to sell their produce.

Or at least, that’s what they _say_ they do. Even though their cart is full of turnips and pomegranates and potatoes depending on the season, they know far more about international politics than a farmer should. Then again, Nicky knows more about sword fighting than a pastor ought to know, so he does his best not to speculate. (He does anyway. There’s very little else to do in here except dream up fantasies where Andy and Quỳnh are pirates who kidnap him from this very dreary town.)

Quỳnh nods. “What you need is a night out.”

“Everyone knows me in this town,” Nicky bemoans. “They’d be scandalized by their pastor dancing the night away.”

“Good thing I know a place,” Andy adds slyly.

Quỳnh gasps dramatically. “And it so happens we are on their way there.”

* * *

It turns out Andy and Quỳnh are also masters of storytelling. They spin a tale so quickly on why Nicky needs to head out of town for the evening, that none of his parishioners blink an eye. Andy and Quỳnh also so happen to have clothes that fit Nicky.

“I am starting to think you really are deadly pirate queens out to kidnap me,” Nicky says as he looks at the gossamer confection of linen, silk, and gauze.

Quỳnh kisses Andy. “Well, we are deadly ladies to people who don’t say please and thank you.”

Nicky very quickly thanks them.

* * *

They arrive at the castle fashionably late, and Nicky exclaims, “You’re taking me to the _King’s_ ball!”

The al-Kaysani family became royalty after the Merrick family’s “provisional” government had been ousted. Yusuf wasn’t supposed to be King – which is why he’d traveled abroad a lot studying the arts – but when his brother had passed away five years ago, he’d ascended to the throne. The past years had been a dizzying mix of carrying on his brother’ legacy and issuing progressive reforms that raised a number of eyebrows. Everyone loves a ball though, so even he couldn’t get out of this one – especially when people were coming far and wide to win his hand in marriage. Or, in Nicky’s case, have a fun night out.

“Only the best for you, dear,” Quỳnh remarks, kissing Nicky’s cheek.

“I was expecting a bar, or a night at the theater.” Nicky watches the other people arrive in a daze. Common folk like them dressed in their finest wear, nobles in their furs and jewels, and foreign dignitaries arriving in gilded coaches and masks that cost more than Nicky could make in a lifetime. There are, in fact, so many people, the only spot they can park their cart is at one of the castle’s many gardens.

“This will be a night to remember,” Quỳnh continues. “It’s not often we mix classes like this, although if the King has his way, that’ll change.”

Andy ribs her. “We have to leave at midnight,” she tells Nicky, “and unless you want to walk home, you’ll have to leave with us. Is that alright?”

“Absolutely. I can’t imagine I’ll do more than stand at the edges and drink fancy punch and eat fancy finger foods.”

“You’d be surprised,” Andy says very dryly. “Now, don’t forget to put on your mask and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, little church mouse.”

“That’s not much,” Nicky says dryly.

“Precisely,” she replies wolfishly. “Now off with you! I’m going to show my wife a good time.”

Nicky looks down at the playful mouse mask and laughs loudly and freely. It’s going to be a good night.

* * *

Quỳnh’s right, Nicky will never forget this. The ball is lavish, elegant, stunning. Colorful cloths strung across the ceiling, more lights in every room than stars in the sky. One room has a large light suspended above the crystal chandelier, throwing rainbows across the revelers. Another is full of people blowing bubbles.

It’s also a relief to be just another face in the crowd. He doesn’t have to contend with gossip or small town politics. He gets to listen to other people’s instead. Like the person dressed as a pangolin complaining to their companion, a water horse, “...and no one knows where the King is!”

“Well, he’s gotta be here. It’s his hand that’s up for grabs,” the water horse says around a mouth full of burfi.

“But how am I supposed to woo him if I don’t know what he looks like!” The pangolin starts wearing a hole in the floor with their pacing. “I tried bribing a waiter, but even she didn’t know what the King is dressed as!”

Nicky watches the drama and sips his coffee. To his surprise, it’s quite good. He’d expected the budget to go to fine alcohol, but perhaps the royal coffers are doing well if they have coffee this nice. He wonders if he can find out where they got it from and if he has enough money saved up to buy some.

“Just like royalty, eh?” a voice says to Nicky’s right. “Throwing these parties and then hiding amongst the crowd.”

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never met any of the royal family.” Nicky turns to see a man near his own height, with warm brown eyes hidden behind a crow’s mask and clothed entirely in black. Even his fingertips are dipped in the color. Upon his shoulders is a cape of feathers, pinned with a chain of shining objects – a bottle cap, a coin, a few rings, and even a hair pin. As he steps closer to Nicky, the fabric shimmers with iridescence. Nicky could watch him all night, just to see what colors are revealed with each new movement.

“Well, you are in their home now. What do you think of them?” the man inquires.

“I feel bad for the King.”

“Even though it’s his night?”

Nicky takes another sip of the coffee. “I imagine it’s tiring always having to be perfect in the spotlight. I can’t blame him for wanting to be anonymous. Especially with the sheer number of people here who want to marry his power and prestige, and not for being himself. So, good for him for finding a way to enjoy himself tonight, although I wish him luck finding a spouse while anonymous.”

“You are… very astute. Who did you say you are again?” The man steps closer to Nicky, and once more Nicky is distracted by the way he shimmers and the peak of skin by his collarbones.

“I didn’t,” Nicky says.

“Are you a shy mouse, then?”

The line is so bad Nicky laughs. “A church mouse, more like.”

“Oh, but I’ve never seen a church mouse with eyes as beautiful as yours,” he says warmly.

Nicky snorts. These lines are _terrible_ , but he hasn’t had this much fun in a long time. He can’t help but flirt back. “Or as big a nose?”

“Part of your charm.”

“And what about you? What is your name Mr. Bearded Crow?”

“Oh, well, hmmm…” He strokes his handsome beard. “We are at a masquerade, so… call me Joe. Say, how should this potential spouse be treated? Like royalty for the night?”

“Royalty should have the same benefits and privileges of the common folk, so he should be treated like a regular person.”

“Ah, a reformist like the King.”

“The King is doing good work. Anyways, you can’t go wrong with a listening ear, kindness, and respect.”

“Then how can I listen attentively to you, my dearest rodent?”

Nicky chuckles. He hasn’t felt like this in awhile – full of want and able to freely express it. He hasn’t been able to since taking up the priesthood; it just didn’t seem right when people ask him to arbitrate arguments and tell him their deepest fears and desires. The clothes probably help him enjoy this moment too, nothing at all like his usual dour robes. This shirt is made of fabric so soft it begs to be touched, and Quỳnh insisted he leave it unbuttoned down to his ribs. The sheer sash is also alluring, both revealing and concealing everything.

“I don’t suppose you know where the best food might be?” Nicky asks. “My friends who brought me said the food was the best part, but my stomach isn’t deep enough to eat my way through every room.”

Joe’s face lights up. “I happen to know just the place!”

*

After Nicky finishes his coffee, Joe places Nicky’s hand in the crook of his elbow. Arm in arm, they walk through a room full of dogs, cats, and even a bird or lizard or two, and then a passage obscured by unicorn tapestry. What luck for Nicky to run into someone who knows his way around! Joe must work here, which means he’s local. So, if tonight goes well, maybe Nicky could sneak away from town more often?

The room they enter is large, and full of nothing but food and servers coming in and out. “Is this where they keep _all_ the food?”

“For this part of the castle anyway,” Joe confirms. “This way you don’t have to run around trying to find a fritter when all that’s around you is ten variations on hummus.”

“This is amazing, but I don’t want to trouble the staff.”

“Good point. We can make our way to the least busiest table, and I’ll tell you what I recommend?”

When they retreat to an empty corner, they have a plate stacked with an assortment of foods – shrimp dumplings, fish steamed in banana leaves, crispy chicken skin stuffed with sticky rice, pistachio cake, a sesame cookie, and a lemon cream puff.

“My eyes might’ve been bigger than my stomach,” Nicky concedes looking at the plate. If he tries to balance the heavy plate in one hand and eat with his other, he’s likely going to drop something.

“Here, let me help.” Joe takes the plate from Nicky, freeing him up to eat with both hands. Faced with a plate full of food, and having given communion too many times, he breaks the cookie in half and offers it to Joe, who looks at him dumbly.

“Have you already eaten?” Nicky says, a touch embarrassed. Maybe his flirtation skills are just as bad as Joe’s.

Joe shakes his head, “No, no I can eat,” and then he carefully takes the cookie from Nicky’s fingers with his teeth. He licks away the crumbs from his bottom lip, which Nicky watches raptly, eating his own half of the cookie as an afterthought.

They continue like that, Nicky feeding the both of them, and Joe holding the plate long after it’s grown light enough for Nicky to handle. They’re probably putting on a show for the waiters, but they’re too wrapped up in each other to care.

When their plate is finally empty, a waiter approaches them and slides them two oysters with a wink.

“I guess that’s our cue to wrap it up?” Nicky says, bemused the waitstaff is encouraging them.

“A chance for me to return the favor,” Joe corrects, handing the plate to Nicky. He cups Nicky’s jaw, stroking his cheek. And then, making sure Nicky has plenty of time to say no, his hand moves to the back of his head. Nicky doesn’t; he wants to fall under this spell. Joe’s fingers wind through Nicky’s overgrown hair, and gently pulls his head back. “Open up, sweetheart.” And he tips the oyster into Nicky’s waiting mouth.

Once Nicky’s safely swallowed the salty delicacy, he fists his hand in Joe’s shirt. “Forget the other oyster, I want to kiss you thoroughly and filthily _now_.”

Joe quickly sets the plate on an empty table corner, and happily lets Nicky drag him to the nearby. With their hands interlaced, his smile is bright enough to light up even the darkest of nights.

* * *

The balcony feels like an entirely different world. The stars hang above them the bustle of the banquet hall dimmed to just the murmur of the garden’s waters below. Alone with this handsome stranger at last, Nicky squeezes his hand and leans up…

“Well, what do we have here?” a new voice says.

Nicky curses. “Go _away_.”

A man emerges from the shadows, a wicked smile upon his face. “Oh no, not without my employer’s goods. The Merrick family would like its heirlooms back.”

Joe hotly exclaims, “Those were plundered artworks by Sabah El-Mohtar herself! We only brought them home.”

Nicky looks at Joe. “You’re part of the King’s reclamation project?”

“Ah… yes,” Joe confirms to Nicky.

The man looks at Nicky. “Do you not know who this thief is?” he laughs, drawing close.

Nicky springs into action by instinct. Stepping into the man’s space, too close for him to draw his sword, he kicks in his knee. The ensuing fight is too easy: Nicky is well-trained, and the man assumes Nicky is tame. Nicky grabs his sword, slashes his arm to prevent him from wielding any other weapon, and then knocks the man out cold.

“You just…!” Joe exclaims, holding a dagger.

“What was I supposed to do? Listen to him try and convince me you’re some kind of charlatan? I already know you’re a very nice man who keeps me well-fed, and I was really looking forward to kissing you. Do you know how long it’s been since I –” Nicky searches the rest of the balcony just to make sure there aren’t any more men in black lying in wait.

“I would kiss you now, but there are more men coming. There is another passage we can go through.”

“No,” Nicky shakes his head, pointing down from the balcony. “You have friends waiting for you. Can you get to them?”

Joe takes a look down. “It’s Booker and Nile,” he murmurs. Then to Nicky, “Yes, but the stairs are past the men skulking in the banquet hall. They better not have harmed any of the staff,” he grouses. And Nicky wonders why _that’s_ what Joe’s focusing on. Then again, near-death makes men funny.

“Give me your cloak and mask, and I’ll draw them away.” It’s dark on the balcony and the men won’t be able to tell they’ve switched from where they are in the brightly lit hall.

Joe, bless him, doesn’t argue with Nicky. Once Nicky unpins his sheer sash, Joe drapes his feathered cloak across Nicky’s shoulders. When they exchange masks, there’s a brief moment they can see one another’s face, but Nicky’s mind is entirely on how long it’s been since he’s had to run any distance, let alone with a naked sword in hand.

Joe kisses him quickly, a brief meeting of lips. “Come back,” Joe says, “and I’ll give you the kiss you wanted.”

Nicky nods, and sufficiently motivated, affixes the crow mask to his face.

* * *

Nicky regrets not visiting the castle with Andy and Quỳnh before. If he had, he’d know the layout better. As it is, he’s racing through the castle and the occasional reveler is useless, thinking this some sort of elaborate entertainment. He just needs to get somewhere there are guards posted, and they can handle the rest.

As a clock chimes midnight, he realizes he knows the garden he’s in. It’s the one he entered in after Andy and Quỳnh dropped him off. They must not be far off. As an entrance, there’ll be guards posted nearby, and Nicky can escape on Andy and Quỳnh’s produce cart.

As Nicky searches for the exit, he spots a familiar face: Joe and his companions.

“I leave you alone for a few hours...!” the broad blond man moans.

His companion, a woman with hair braided neatly back, nudges him and stares pointedly at Nicky.

“Go!” Nicky says. “I’m a poor decoy if both of us are here!”

The man nods, and then he bundles Joe away. The woman says, “Go through the jasmine archway. You’ll get help there.” And with that, she follows her companion and Joe, watching their backs with a wicked looking crossbow.

Nicky follows her advice, and through the jasmine scented archway, finds Andy throwing pumpkin seeds in Quỳnh’s mouth.

“There you are!” Andy shouts. “What’s with the sword! Where’s the sheath?”

Quỳnh spies the men coming in behind Nicky. “Better come closer, little church mouse.”

“Shit, Nicky, you brought the party with you!” Andy whoops. From the covered part of the cart, Quỳnh hands Andy a sword, and draws a crossbow and arrows for herself.

Between the three of them, they make quick work of the men.

Andy surveys their work, the men bound and unconscious. “The King’s guard can take care of the rest of this. We have a deadline to make.”

And away they ride in their pumpkin cart.

* * *

The next morning, Nicky’s more sore than he’s been since he’d first started training in his father’s barracks. Even his hands feel raw and abused the same way from picking up a sword… The previous night comes rushing back to him. He’s still dressed in last night’s clothes, and the crow mask and cloak sit on a chair next to the now sheathed sword.

(Andy had fished the spare sheath out of their cart. “Is there anything you _don’t_ have in there?” Nicky asked.

“If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” Andy deadpanned.)

If there’s one thing that becomes clear in the light of day, it’s that after last night, there’s no way he can go back to whiling away his days as a pastor.

As he meanders into his kitchen, he finds Quỳnh and Andy already sitting there, snickering quietly over some poster. “You made quite the splash last night,” Quỳnh says. “The news is all over the town. The King is looking for you.”

“He can wait. First, I need to find the man I was with last night.”

Andy moves her plate over the poster. “A man you say? Did you have a tryst?”

“We know naked swords were involved,” Quỳnh says primly.

Andy shoves playfully at Quỳnh’s shoulder. “Good one.”

“Our swords were _not_ naked. You see…” Nicky relays what had happened.

“Are you sure _you’re_ not the pirate?” Quỳnh exclaims when he’s done.

“He was in danger!” Nicky sputters.

“And you dazzled him with your… sword,” Andy says, and Quỳnh ribs her despite laughing too. They’d both laughed hysterically through his tale.

“He didn’t have a scabbard, so it wasn’t like he could sheath his blade anyway,” Quỳnh adds.

“You’re right!” Tears start to gather in Andy’s eyes.

“I didn’t so much as kiss him,” Nicky grumbles.

“Although I’m sure you wished to.”

“I would… certainly like to get to know him under better circumstances,” Nicky confirms. “He promised me a kiss,” he adds wistfully.

Quỳnh shares another look with Andy. “Nicky, I know you know we’re not farmers.”

“Maybe all farmers have weapons hidden along with their pumpkins.”

Quỳnh snorts. “Hardly. We might not be sea pirates, but how would you like to come away with us?”

* * *

It turns out Andy and Quỳnh, while not pirates, are something quite close to it – they’re part of the King’s efforts to repatriate goods long stolen from their kingdom. Or, as Quỳnh put it, “We’re a unique team that returns our stolen cultural treasures home.”

“Pirate, thief, sounds similar to me,” Nicky teases.

“We’re _well-paid_ pirates,” Andy corrects, “by the royal coffers too, which is a lot more than your stipend.” She continues on, saying they could use someone with Nicky’s skills: good with people, good at listening to them, good at drawing out information from them, and also good with a sword when need be. Nicky hadn’t thought the priesthood would equip him with such useful skills, but God does indeed work in mysterious ways.

“So the man who was after Joe for the Sabah El-Mohtar painting was working for one of the men you stole from?”

“The Merrick family stole a lot during their time here,” Quỳnh replies.

“Do you know Joe then?”

The two women say something to each other in a language Nicky doesn’t know. “Joe?” Quỳnh says slowly.

“Good kid,” Andy confirms to Nicky.

“He’s castle staff right?”

“Right,” Andy echoes, sounding suspiciously innocent.

“Since you’re part of the reason I didn’t get my tryst last night, I do have a request: that we go to the castle first, so I can at the very least be kissed before we go on our next… quest, or whatever you call it.”

“We call it a job,” Andy says. “And I have the perfect first one for you.”

* * *

It’s surprisingly easy to resign from the church, and even easier to pack his things. All that he owns fits into a small satchel, and perhaps this is a sign this was never meant to be home. He’d once dreamed of making a home with mismatched but well-loved dishes, hanging a broom of cinnamon over his door, mementos from travels and friends along his windowsills.

He takes Joe’s cloak with him too. It turns out to be reversible, and quite comfortable for a cloak lined with feathers. In the light of day, the mask’s craftsmanship is even more apparent, the leather intricately tooled to give the appearance of feathers. He’d hate to ruin such a work of art, so he carefully wraps it in the finest cloth he has, a scarf Quỳnh had brought him from abroad.

As he hops into Andy and Quỳnh’s pumpkin cart, Quỳnh touches one of the rings upon the cloak’s chain. “Your family might have discarded you, but you’re a treasure. Do you know that Nicky?” He’d told her (and by extension Andy) that his elder brother the Duke had forced him here, fearing his duchy was more loyal to its Captain of the Guard than its Duke.

His lips quirk. “I know I am worth more than I’ve accepted here.”

“Good.” She nods, and then they leave.

* * *

Nicky arrives at the castle once more, this time by the light of day. Andy and Quỳnh spend the ride in comfortable silence, making silly faces at one another, and Nicky spends it admiring the rolling countryside and considering how his future is now as wide as the landscape.

They enter through the same garden entrance, all signs of the scuffle gone – the grounds are free of blood and the bushes show no sign of the bodies tossed into them. Andy yanks Nicky along, and Quỳnh winks at him. “Let Andy have her fun,” she says as they arrive at their destination.

Andy shoves the door open and shouts, “Hey, Joe! Found you another treasure you misplaced!” She tosses Nicky into a study.

And there’s Joe, behind a desk full of open books, and frowning at a silver necklace. He taps the metalwork with his nail, and Nicky knows those hands: they held last night’s plate of delights and are still marked with ink on the cuticles and smudged on his knuckles. “I told you I – ” His gaze catches on Nicky, and he stares in open-mouthed shock. Then, his eyes light up as if Nicky is every nighttime wish come true; and his mouth spreads into a smile, like a comet across the sky.

“My shy mouse savior!”

Andy slaps Nicky’s soldier. “He thinks you’re a mouse, Nicky. He clearly didn’t get to see your sword close up.”

Joe’s mouths the name silently. “Nicolò in full, but Nicky is also fine,” Nicky says.

“I saw Nicky’s skill up close,” Joe declares. “He disarmed my would-be attacker quite thoroughly. You wouldn’t’ve had complaints, Andy.”

“Oh I saw him in the garden, and I didn’t have any complaints, boss.”

Joe laughs. “You’ll always be the boss, Andy.”

“Damn right,” she replies smugly.

Nicky starts to put some things together, namely that Andy and Quỳnh’s team is the King’s personal initiative, and Andy doesn’t defer to a lot of people. “Your boss is the King?!” he hisses.

“Who did you think?” Quỳnh replies, trying to hide her amusement.

Meanwhile, Andy laughs raucously. “Joe the _crow_? Is _that_ what you dressed up as Joe, really?”

“I thought it was clever!” Joe exclaims.

“It was,” Nicky says to him. And then to Quỳnh, “I thought you reported to someone the King delegated to, but now I think you deliberately misled me. I’m sure you and Andy have some bet running…”

Quỳnh shrugs, not bothering to deny it. “Like you, he’s not the first born. He was with us before he got elevated to King. He still likes to sneak out with us now and then.”

“I see you have a lot to talk about, we’ll let you chat,” Andy declares, pulling Quỳnh through the door. Nicky knows the two of them will be eavesdropping, likely for their bet, but Nicky can’t find it in himself to care.

With the two women gone, Nicky pulls the mask out of his satchel and approaches Joe and his sunlit desk. Unwrapping it, he places it on the desk, and then reaches for Joe’s hands. Turning them this way and that, he examines their stains. Last night he’d thought it part of the costume, but now he realizes the costume was likely a concession to a man who worked with inks and charcoals regularly. Lifting Joe’s palms towards him, Nicky places a kiss upon each. “I’m not sure what to call you,” Nicky murmurs.

“Yusuf, or Joe.” Reluctantly freeing one of his hands, Joe reaches into a drawer in his desk, and from it he draws the mouse mask. Placing it against Nicky’s face, he says with a sparkle in his eye, “It _is_ you. I’d’ve searched the whole kingdom until I found the person whose eyes matched the mask.”

“I am not the only blue-eyed man in this kingdom,” Nicky huffs.

“But you are the only one who would wear the mask of a mouse but have the eyes of a lion.” Then he adds with a wink, “Also, I would’ve made sure you knew how to use a sword.”

Nicky would look skyward, but he doesn’t want to stop looking at Joe. “Please don’t tell me you share Andy’s sense of humor.”

Joe looks baffled for a moment, but then bursts into laughter. “I have no objections to testing my... sword against yours, but first let me drink my fill of you!”

Joe sets the mouse mask next to the crow one, and Nicky waits for his kiss. But Joe has other torturous plans. His finger trace Nicky’s brow, run down his cheeks. The mischievous man taps his nose, scratches beneath his chin, and then runs both hands snugly down Nicky’s neck. A bitten-off sound escapes Nicky.

Joe watches him intently, hands sliding down Nicky’s shoulders, wider under the crow cloak than Joe’s had been. “So, how shall I reward you?” Joe’s voice is warm and sends shivers up Nicky’s spine.

“I recall being promised a kiss if I returned. I expect interest after having to wait.”

“I think I can do that,” Joe whispers, and he brings their mouths together.

* * *

After they’ve made a mess of Joe’s desk and each other, they lie down upon the crow cloak, now spread across the floor.

“Did you drink your fill?” Nicky teases.

“Oh yes, and was that slow and filthy enough for you?” Joe replies.

Nicky hums in satisfaction and arches his back. “I don’t mean to be presumptive, but I assume you’re no longer looking for a fiancé?”

“I’m looking right at him,” Joe says, propping himself up on his elbow.

“I can’t say I ever thought I’d go from captain to pastor to royalty.”

“A pastor!” Joe exclaims. “We know so very little about each other! Ah, so much to learn and look forward to. You will have to tell me more about this wild life you’ve led.”

“I was very good at it, but my heart wasn’t in it. I was, however, looking forward to joining Andy and Quỳnh’s team.”

“Did you think I would stop that?” Joe laughs. “I wish _I_ could go still.”

“You… Ah, before you were King!”

“My brother encouraged all my dreams, God I miss him.”

Nicky waits to see if he needs to give a moment of silence, but Joe’s smile is wistful and not full of grief. So Nicky adds, “If you were with Andy and Quỳnh, then you could’ve fought off that man last night!” Joe is indeed full of surprises.

“Yes, but it was better for you to do it. Both because it leaves me with an advantage and because you were so very dashing swinging that sword. Your shoulders were so broad I thought you might rip your chemise!”

There are some tears, but Nicky’ll mention that another time. “Would it be alright if we didn’t get married right away? I’d like to get to know you better before pledging our lives together, and I do not make such promises lightly.”

Joe kisses him. “I am going to fall in love with you so swiftly.”

“What! Are you not already? I thought royalty was supposed to swoon once you rescued them.”

“Well, I’m certainly weak in the knees. I’m not getting up any time soon.” He snuggles closer to Nicky. “We can have a long engagement.”

“That won’t be a problem?”

Joe laughs. “Oh no, my advisors will love it. They wanted me to get married because it would boost morale and the economy. They’ll love it once they find out my future husband is from the heist team.”

Nicky starts giggling, and Joe reaches around him searching the cloak. Finding the clasp, he pulls a ring from it. “My father’s,” he says. It’s a surprisingly simple ring, a band of polished silver. “My parents married thinking they would live out their lives as commoners.” It fits Nicky as if it’s made for him.

Nicky pulls another ring off the clasp, a matching one in silver. “My mother’s,” Joe confirms. To Nicky’s surprise it slips onto Joe’s finger easily. When he asks how Joe has two perfectly fitting rings, Joe only says, “Magic.”

Standing at last, Nicky reaches down to help Joe up. “I think it’s time we shared the good news then, don’t you?”

“Which part? There is so much good here.” Nicky blinks at him and realizes Joe is entirely sincere. He can’t help smiling, and Joe beams right back.

They fix each other’s clothes, fold the cloak, and then go to greet their friends, hands ringed in matching silver.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspiration:  
> 
> 
> * Party and Nicky’s (Asra) outfit from NixHydra’s The Arcana  
> 
> * King Joe’s art reclamation project from Luminarai’s [Indiana Jo AU](https://luminarai.tumblr.com/post/632775054627913728/okay-but-like-joe-being-a-reverse-indiana-jones) idea.  
> 
> * That behind the scenes of Luca learning how to use a sword for The Old Guard.  
> 
> * Brandy and Drew Barrymore’s Cinderellas  
> 
> * Title from [It’s Possible](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jn9zJAxD720) by Whitney Houston & Brandy
>   
> Please comment!


End file.
